Fellow closers bow to Rivera

USA TODAY, July, 2008 by Paul White

NEW YORK -- When Francisco Rodriguez went to his first All-Star Game in 2004, nothing was more important to him than getting to spend time with Mariano Rivera.

That's the first thing Joakim Soria did this year.

Rodriguez, the Los Angeles Angels' closer, is back for his third All-Star Game in a season in which he's on pace to set a major league record with 65 saves. Soria, who's had the Kansas City Royals' full-time ninth-inning role for less than a calendar year, is a first-time All-Star and part of a formidable parade of closers on the AL squad, along with the Minnesota Twins' Joe Nathan, the Boston Red Sox's Jonathan Papelbon and the Baltimore Orioles' George Sherrill.

But, whether the game is in New York or not, AL closing comes back to Rivera.

"Mariano is Mariano," says Rodriguez, who could ...